Seven Decades Of Melodic Rock & Roll

Hearing The Grass Grow

Sometimes its the sound. Sometimes its the title. Sometimes its both. Most of the songs hail from the late-1960s, of course. The songs are not only “psychedelic,” but they are “blatantly” so.

Some of the finest examples of this entirely made up genre include:

“See Emily Play” — Pink Floyd

“Incense and Peppermints” — Strawberry Alarm Clock

“Pictures of Matchstick Man” — Status Quo

“Paper Sun” — Traffic

And, of course, “Strawberry Fields Forever” — The Beatles

A particularly cool exemplar, however, is “I Can Hear The Grass Grow” by The Move. Hearing the grass grow? Now that’s blatantly psychedelic.

The Move, unfortunately, did not achieve success in the U.S. as “The Move,” although they were all the rage in the U.K. in the late-60s. They did achieve success in the U.S. when they later morphed into “ELO,” but that’s another story.

Back to listening the growing grass. Here’s some choice verbiage:

My head’s attracted to/Magnetic wave of sound/With streams of coloured circles/Makin’ their way around

I can hear the grass grow/I can hear the grass grow/I see rainbows in the evening

Not the stuff of normal consciousness.

But there’s also the sound:

That’s not only “psychedelic” in a 1960’s sense, but it sounds a lot like “modern rock” or “alternative rock.”

Ahead of its times? Yes, and quite influential on what came next.

“I Can Hear The Grass Grow” and two dozen other choice cuts can be found on an import remastered “Very Best Of” disk: